The hotel El Ksar was quite attractive when you first walk into the main lobby, after filling in a form you are quickly shown your hotel room, which was really nice, a side sea view hotel room, that overlooked the beach, the bathroom was very clean, and the maids were very friendly, and never had any trouble tidying the rooms when it was suitable for us, and not just when they wanted to do it.

Some hotel staff can apear to lack effort when it comes to attending your needs, but thats mainly bar staff, resturant staff are quite willing to help you with anything you need, from finding a table, to sorting out your drinks, but maybe its because of the 1 or 2 Tunisian dinars you provide them for their service.

Food was a bit repetitive after 7 nights, but nothing out of the ordinary from most all inclusive holidays.

This hotel looked very good and clean on arrival.

There were times when some areas looked a little less cared for, but clean never the less. The food was very good, obviously it became a bit monotonous by the end of 14 days, but there was always a very varied selection.

If you did find yourself bored and not fancy anything on the menu, especially at lunch time, the two restaurant/snack bars by the pool and beach offered a nice alternative. We found the location of the hotel to be ideal, only 10mins or so by taxi from Sousse and Port el Kantoui.

There were also a selection of shops and cafes within a 5-15 mins stroll. As the hotel was only about 25mins taxi ride from the airport this was also great!

The hotel staff were all great! They made us feel welcome, but were not overly 'pushy'. They were concerned about you, ensuring you were having a good holiday, but not to the extent of making you feel uncomfortable.

The entertainment was often very 'samey' but if you are on holiday you should expect the usual type of entertainment. You can either sit and moan about it, or take it at face value, join in, and have fun.

Am going here again in Sept. 2005, and will probably go again after that, if the holiday is as good as last time.

The only thing that I would say is a bad point, think very carefully before doing the safari trip. You spend about 17hrs total over the 2 days on the coach!

Mind you, the trip on camels in the sahara, and the red train were great! so weigh things up carefully, and do the trip in your 1st week there if you decide to go.

This was our first holiday to Tunisia and we did not know what to expect. As we drove out of the airport it seemed as though we may have made a mistake. Everywhere you looked were building sites and small trading shops in run down locations. What a surprise when you pull into the hotel complex.

A long winding driveway takes you away from the road and up to the front of the hotel which is all lit up and makes a spectacular sight. You are then led into the foyer where you are greeted by the friendliest staff I have ever met.
You have to fill in your registration details and while you do that you are supplied with drinks by the waiters.
You then find that a porter is waiting with your bags to take then to your room.

The rooms themselves are clean airy and very spacious.

We had been issued our blue bands on our arms to show that we were all inclusive and it was off to the restaurant to have something to eat. This was the only disappointment of the holiday. The food is local, oily and bland. You have to search the numerous dishes to find something that you feel comfortable eating. Even on the salads everything is covered in olive oil and dressings spoiling the taste of everything. I suppose if you like olive oil this would be paradise but it was not for our taste.

It was then we headed for the bar. We found the waiters absolutely wonderful, trying so hard to please and to make sure you got whatever you wanted. They will do anything you ask with a smile on their faces. Tipping is usual but they do not expect it every time. Only when you feel that you are getting a good service.

The entertainment staff are on hand all the time and join in anything you may be doing. They are there to help at all times with directions or translations if you are trying to explain something to other people that you are sitting with.

I found the international status in the hotel confusing at first when you may be talking to a German then a Frenchman then somebody from Belgium but this is made easy as the staff al speak many languages and help out if both of you are stuck for what to say.

The entertainment in the evenings was the same as wherever you go in the Mediterranean. With animation staff miming to songs and dancing there hearts out on the stage.
The live duo that stays in the reception area were wonderful and can play any style of music from rock and roll to ummpah sounds.

As I have said the only disappointment was the food but this would not stop me from staying again at this hotel as I enjoyed myself so much.

We decided to escape Christmas madness and take a break in the sun. We booked over the internet after doing a bit of research beforehand and really needed this holiday. We weren't disappointed!

The room was lovely overlooking the grounds of the hotel and also the beach. East facing, we watched the sun come up in the mornings in partial disbelief as the sky was the blue of picture postcards.

The beach was spotlessly clean though the temperatures weren't high enough to encourage sunbathing. Some of our fellow guests did, though they were well wrapped up!

As we were all inclusive we enjoyed a wide variety of well prepared food. There were some moaners but we didn't feel that there were justifications for the complaints. Our only grumble was over the A La Carte restaurant which we were entitled to visit once during our stay at no extra cost. The menu didn't vary enough from the buffet style restaurant that we had been using during our stay. The staff in there were a bit snooty so we left and resumed our meal in the other restaurant! On that particular night there were other complaints as well so perhaps they were having a bad night.

We didn't expect much over the Christmas period being in a Muslim country but I can honestly say that it was the best Christmas Eve that I've ever experienced. The hotel became one giant party with the staff running rings around themselves to ensure that all ran smoothly. The live band played music for all tastes and the few children staying in the hotel had a ball! Every guestroom had an individual Christmas cake left in their room (we couldn't eat ours so gave it to a member of staff who took it home for their children)

We can't praise the staff of the hotel enough. They were unfailingly cheerful and helpful and worked so hard. They are paid very little and rely very much on the tips left by guests. They certainly deserve to earn more and I'd encourage everyone to be generous when tipping as it constitutes a large proportion of their income. Apart from that, if you identify a good waiter he'll make sure that you get good service and will remember your preferences.

All in all a wonderful trip which lightened the long dark days of our winter. I'd definitely go again and to the same hotel. Ten out of ten from us both.

Happy New Year to you all

The hotel is spacious and kept very clean. There was plenty of choice with regards to food and if you left a tip for your waiter you were almost always guarenteed good service the next time you were in. The location of the hotel is a little poor but depends on what you want to do and how far you want to explore into Sousse.
The staff couldn't do enough to make your stay enjoyable and most spoke excellent english. Entertainment was poor. It isn't advertised properly and the "Animation Team" as they were called appeared to sit in their little room by the restaurant and not do much except try and get you to play bingo in the evening.

Be warned of the little man down by the beach who will try and get you to partake in a pirate ship excursion. Some people did do this - it wasn't a good experience!!

The only fault that the hotel has is that it can be difficult to find things. We only discovered how to get to the indoor pool after a lot of exploring and there are a total of four outdoor pools. Two are used mainly but if you take a little stroll and don't mind being away from the bar's there are two others which are perfect sun traps and not widley known about. To find them go to the main pool in front of the restaurant and by what was referred to as a mushroom (on the right hand side as your looking at the restaurant)is a path which leads back into the hotel but also out the otherside. Keep following the path and you will come across the other two pools.

If you travel with first choice to this hotel - say hello to Debra the rep for us. She was fantastic and will quite regularly kidnap you and take you to a bar or out for lunch to a traditional tunisian restaurant in the medina.

The hotel I have to say was fabulous, and I really should have posted sooner anyway here we go:

1. Cleanliness - The whole place was spotless - I am sure you could have ate your dinner off the floor!

2. Food...we got off to a bad start arriving very later with nothing really edible left. However this said I was very impressed, there was always plenty of varied food, well cooked and the waiters were efficient.

On this note, I was very very impressed with the treatment of AI guests, when a waiter even suspected we were thirsty was presented with bottle upon bottle of water!

Also despite drinking copious amounts of vodka (they have no conception of shots) I was not ill once...I think this is testament to the cleanliness and the well prepared food.

3. Hotel Staff...On the whole friendly efficient, and tip driven as most are. I will say one thing though, I as a young female I was very scared when one tried to proposition me enroot to the ladies from the night club!

4 Entertainment...Out of season as expected a bit dull, however there is a pool table and they are quite amusing.

5. Who to go with....Went with First Choice...they were fine, but I would really think twice about doing their trips again...wasn

Just to clear up any confusion you may have about the name of this hotel, it is now known as the Kathargo El Ksar - but it was formerly known as the Corinthia El Ksar and locally it is just referred to as El Ksar.

We had a great time at this hotel and although some aspects were not out of this world (I'll come to these later) the really big selling point is the beach. The weather was fantastic on the dates we were there (35-39C every day) and there was a really refreshing breeze straight off the Med to keep us from hitting boiling point.

We went AI and, although the food started to get a bit samey towards the end of our two-week stay, we both thought the quality of the main restaurant was excellent, though some moaners weren't so impressed. As part of your stay, you are also entitled to one evening meal per week in the so-called a la carte restaurant (in the reception area), which you have to book the day before you want to dine at the reception desk. We were distinctly under whelmed by the service and the food we were served, though we did hear good reports from other people who went for standard pasta and pizza dishes. We went once and were so disappointed we didn't bother going again.

Another big plus for us - don't laugh - was that the whole resort appeared to be absolutely mozzie free. We were bitten to shreds in Torba, Turkey, the previous year, but neither of us were nibbled even once in Tunisia, despite going on numerous tours right through the country.

The rooms were comfortable, spacious and the view onto the Med was great. But the level of cleanliness was not fantastic - we found other people's hairs on the tiled bedroom floor when we arrived, and these weren't swept up until the end of the first week. Bedding was replaced a couple of times and towels were swapped every day - but a word of warning... the maids tend to sneak in and take your room towels early in the morning while you're at breakfast - but they often weren't replaced until late afternoon. On two occasions we didn't get any back at all and had to go down to reception. In the end, we put one of our towels into the wardrobe to stop them leaving us towel-less.

Beach towels are available daily from the hut next to the main pool - but get there early. Despite notices all around the hotel saying that towels are available 8am-6pm, it's a lie. If you haven't swapped your towel card for your towels at the hut by 10.30am, you can forget it for the rest of the day. Likewise the sunbeds on the beach - there appear to be loads of them at first, and there are comfortable mattresses to use as well, but they will all pretty much be gone by 9am. Again, there are signs everywhere saying it is prohibited to reserve your beds by placing a towel on it, but in reality, the beach security boys were doing it themselves for the guests who tipped the most. We tipped every day (1 dinar is plenty) when they found you a bed and placed the mattresses for you, but we got the distinct impression that some of the nationalities may have tipped big time up front (is that a bribe?) to in effect 'buy' the same bed every day. Frankly, unless you intend to be on the beach every day, it's not worth it - just get up and onto the beach early, even before breakfast. There are plenty of other beds around the three pools at the hotel, which leads me onto the last problem we had...

The hotel has some fantastic amenities, but it is absolutely awful at telling you (a) that they are there, (b) where they are and (c) when activities are happening. There is nothing in your room to welcome you to the hotel or tell you where things are and although this is a pretty big hotel, there are hardly any signs helping you find your way around the place. Hence, it wasn't until the very last morning that I discovered there were two or three very good tennis courts, very nice gardens, a very new-looking archery area and a huge outdoor disco (which I think may have doubled up in the daytime as the kids club).

To find all of these things, head sort of right out of the front door and you should bump into them.

There is also a gym (though it wasn't air conditioned and therefore not very inviting), spa and large, professional massage clinic. This clinic is not run by the hotel and again you would have a hard time finding it, if it wasn't for the two reps who spend all day on their feet trying to tout for business, which they get a commission for. We both had massages and although not cheap compared to back home, they were very well done and I'd recommend them, especially if you've just got back from the two-day safari trip.

Before I finish, a couple of top tips:
1) Hire a safety box at reception as soon as you check in - it cost 28 dinar for a fortnight (about